Wrath of the Righteous

Entry 65 - Fragments

A record of events, as written by Sarena Miller.

15

SEP/16

Entry 65:
Sometimes the worst days are the most unexpected days. There more days that I can count where I have woken up and known that the day ahead of me was going to be deadly and full of terrors. Perhaps that’s why Geb’s attack on our city was so wholly crushing. I didn’t see it coming, I didn’t have my heart prepared for the loss it might bring. In the end, it may have been the worst day I’ve seen since the first attack on Kenebras.

I was in Avashniel’s tower, he had helped me create an item that would hide my celestial features while in the Abyss. Truely, it was an easy item to make. It took me barely two hours to enchant the hairpin to the point that it would accept Avashniel’s spell. Though I’ve not often had the chance to create items alongside him, whenever I do it seems that he’s impressed with my ability. In these quiet moments with him I do feel respected. It’s a rare feeling when I’m beside him.

I had started another project, something that I wanted to create for the soldiers here in Dresen. It would end up as a mirror of sorts. Something that would allow them to see their families, and talk to them. There were limitations to what I wanted to do, and I didn’t want to make something that was sub-par. Perhaps what I wanted to make wasn’t even possible to construct. But it had to be able to be activated by anyone – I didn’t want the soldiers who fought just as valiantly as the paladins did to not be able to use it just because of their lack of magical ability. And I wanted it to function for a least several minutes in a row, no 25-word messages, I wanted them to be able to have a conversation. And I wanted them to be able to SEE their loved ones, it’s one thing to know that they’re there, but it’s quite another to see what they’re fighting for. Perhaps some of the soldiers here had children they’re missing the lives of. When would these men and women ever get to go home again? It’s hard to tell. We certainly couldn’t afford to lose them. So this is what I set out to do. I knew it would take me hours and days, perhaps even weeks to create – time of which I’d probably never have. But if I didn’t start it then I’d never finish it. It gave me an excuse to spend more time with Avashniel too.

Avashniel was different with me during these times too. While I was standing still and concentrating he would come up to me and check on what I was doing. He would get closer to me than perhaps he needed to. He would touch my hands and my arms, even sometimes brush against my hair. During these times I would fight to keep my concentration on what I was doing. Perhaps he was testing me. Perhaps he showed these little brushes of affection then because there was absolutely nothing I could do to return them without ruining what I was working on. Maybe I’m reading into something because I’m desperate to find affection from him.

It was during one of these peaceful moments that I saw blue flashes coming from the small, high window in the laboratory. I asked him if he’d saw it and if he knew what it was. He remarked that it looked like the ghosts, perhaps training. I put down what I had been working on and told him that I was going to go check it out. I grabbed my armor and my scimitar, I’m not sure when I had started leaving it in Avashniel’s space but it had become usual. I threw my chestpiece on and ran up the steps to the tower’s top. I let my wings carry me towards the blue light.

[The following is scribbled after the last entry.]

I’ve gathered you all together this morning because decisions have to be made. I will tell you all the truth of my feelings and experiences, and then I will leave it up to you to decide if you would like to follow my path. When you all chose me to be the leader of Dresen I cannot say that I had the confidence in myself that you had in me. But right now I am making a choice, I will tell you why I have chosen it, and then you all will choose. My decision will be the choice for all of us or the choice for none of us. I will not abide by splintering among us. Nothing is gained by arguing between ourselves. Accusations about character or one’s past will not be tolerated here – who among us can say they have only made correct and virtuous choices in their lives?

We have several problems facing us this day:

First, the Queen has requested that myself, Melisande, Reginald, and Leon all undergo a quest into the Midnight Isles. First, we would travel through a rift between our worlds in the Fane and the Queen and Avashniel will test the possibility of closing the portal using the information that the Queen has provided us. Regardless if the ritual for closing the portal works, the four of us will venture into the Abyss to try to discover where the mining of the Nihidrion crystal is taking place, and to shut down those operations forever. If we can do so, perhaps there will be no longer demons of previously untold power.

Our second problem is that of the Bloodstones which have lain quietly under our care. It is clear that they lay quietly no longer. Those who attacked us were some of Geb’s many legions, and it is doubtless that they will attack again since they did not obtain what that sought to. I will not allow our city to take the burden of defending those stones. I have come across new information that has convinced me that moving them is not an option that we can pursue. I will be reaching out to the Knights of Ozen in Last Wall, and if I am able to secure their aid, will require the assistance of those of you able to do so, to magically transport those Knights willing to come here. I have been told that if those who are faithful to Arozni as she was and Aroden as he was would come together to defend the stones then those and all of Dresen would be protected. [She looks at the Queen] As you have said you do not have the resources to keep the stones safe, then you must be willing to give us the time to make sure that those resources are put in place.

Our third problem is assisting those of us who were afflicted and taken during Geb’s attack. I will not allow Lann and Sosiel to become victims of this attack. I am told that Lann had not yet passed from this life into the next when he was taken. Sosiel’s fate is less certain, but what is truly certain – we cannot allow the whore Queen of Geb to profane and exploit them for her own gain. I WILLNOTALLOW IT. We will not leave this plane without finding out what happened to them, and retrieving them if at all possible. Lann and Sosiel have been invaluable members of Dresen and I am certain that many of us would not still be alive and seated at this table without the aid of those two. I am certain that those of us who were buried under Kenebras would never have made it to the surface without the aid of Lann and the Neathholmers. I will not spend my life’s energy shutting down a mining operation while those two suffer in the undead hands of the whore Queen!

Finally, we must find a cure to Avashniel’s affliction. While the amount of knowledge of the arcane that I don’t know eclipses that what I do, I do know that it is impossible that the wound inflicted upon his soul is benign. I cannot believe that using the power in the Codex of Paradox while so inflicted will give us a positive result. It could even be guessed that the whore Queen knew what she was doing when she placed it there, planning for future eventualities of using the Codex’s knowledge. They know we have the Codex and they also know that he is the last Rift Warden. Does it not make sense that incapacitating him may have been a goal? He must be free of the wound before using the Codex.

And so you have my decision. I will find a way to get the Knights of Ozen here, I would find out the status of Lann and Sosiel and save them if possible, and find a cure for Avashniel, then and only then will I step through the rift into the Abyss. I cannot in good conscientious leave this plane with these things undone. I will not allow Dresen to fall by the wayside.
Lord Jeggare I am Sarena, leader of Dresen. We are desperate for aid with the Codex and Bloodstones. Too much to explain this way, please…